Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi
Management of Egbin thermal station in Lagos has assured Customers in the state of stable power supply.
Mr Kola Adesina, Chairman Egbin Power Plc who gave the assurance after the commissioning of 220 mega watts (MW) unit of the plant said with the addition electricity supply will be extended to over one million homes in Lagos.
Adesina said that more residents will enjoy additional 6-hour per day of stable power supply.
According to him, over 6,000 direct jobs, over 10,000 indirect employment will be created in terms of support and maintenance services, engineering, procurement, supplies to power sector, including support for the small and medium scale industries.
Egbin is the largest power plant in West Africa comprising 6 x 220 mega watts units of turbines with a total capacity of 1,320 mega watts.
According to the chairman, The Egbin Power Plant is so critical to the nation as it accounts on a daily basis for about 20 per cent of the power generated in the country.
He said management has successfully rehabilitated the unit 6 after eight years of being docile as well as the overhauling and retooling of unit 4.
Adesina said that recognising the importance of commerce and industry to the transformation program of government, Egbin unit 6 output is to be made available under an innovative bilateral commercial arrangement to Eko and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Companies to help improve power availability in Lagos and its industrial outskirts.
He said, “We are indeed leading a new dawn in job creation within Lagos and its environs; and fostering gains in the gross domestic product of the economy and reduction in crime rates.
It is important at this stage to acknowledge and salute Mr President for the audacious N213 billion CBN Intervention Fund initiative.
The facility is to help offset legacy gas debts and address the revenue shortfall in the sector. Notwithstanding the liquidity challenge, we have made significant investments in the rehabilitation of unit 6, overhauling and retooling of unit 4, renovation of the office space, computerisation of processes.
According to the chairman, for us to achieve these noble objectives and unravel the bottlenecks in the value chain, we seek government’s help in terms of gas availability and expansion of the transmission network.
“In the light of paucity of funds faced by the government, the hands of the private sector needs to be strengthened by allowing significant investment in both the transmission and gas infrastructure.
“With appropriate models and investment recovery mechanism, this holistic PPP approach will engender a faster, cheaper and more productive result in rapidly growing the value chain.
“Beyond the shores of our nation, we aim to eventually expand the scope of our operations to the African market.
“Through acquisition of existing power facilities and building of new infrastructure not only through trading of electricity across Africa but to provide a leeway to trans-national development.